On May 10, the U.S. Navy announced that its Naval Weapons Research Center once again successfully tested a new shipborne laser weapon (LAWS project ) ,claimed that this weapon can accurately strike the target. A video released by the U.S. Naval Research Office shows the recent deployment and testing of laser weapon systems on the USS Ponce. The test video showed that a speedboat exploded and caught fire after being hit by a laser gun, and a drone was destroyed immediately after being irradiated. In addition to the LAWS project, starting in 2008, the US Navy has also launched another "Marine Laser Demonstration and Demonstration" (MLD) project to verify the capability of shipborne laser weapons to defend against small ship attacks. MLD adopts the solid-state laser developed by Northrop Grumman under the "Joint High-energy Solid-State Laser" project of the US Department of Defense and its precise tracking system developed for the "tactical high-energy laser". The technology is relatively mature. So what is the level of laser weapons in our country? How far has it developed? Military experts made the following analysis based on public information.

It should be said that the development of laser weapons in our country has a long history, which can be traced back to the mid-1970s. Under the leadership, a scientific research team composed of hundreds of scientific and technical personnel from 5 major departments, 10 research institutes across the country, after more than 20 years of hard work, has made significant progress in theoretical research and engineering technology. A laser weapon test device was developed in 1993, and static and quasi-dynamic shooting tests were carried out, making my country the fourth country after the United States, the Soviet Union, and France to conduct the test. In 1997, it won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. In 1996, a laser weapon test system was developed and a dynamic target test was carried out, making my country the third country to have conducted the test after the United States and Russia. In 2005, a laser weapon test prototype was developed and a demonstration test was carried out, making my country the second country after the United States to conduct the test. In 2008, it won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. The destructive effect of laser on the target is roughly divided into two types: soft destruction and hard destruction. The first is soft destruction, which is to use laser to destroy the vulnerable parts of precision guided weapons such as missiles and guided bombs, or destroy the optics on satellites. Components and photoelectric sensors.

The second type is the so-called "hard destruction", which is to directly use lasers to destroy metal and other components of enemy air targets, or destroy spacecraft Hard parts such as battery boards burn down your physical structure. Because it is a laser beam that directly damages the target or makes it invalid, it has many excellent technical characteristics compared with artillery and missiles: rapid response, the beam is transmitted at 300,000 kilometers per second, and there is no need to calculate the firing advance when hitting the target. Send it out. Although laser weapons are so good, laser weapons have embarked on a bumpy development path due to their complex technology, huge investment, and slow development progress. For a long period of time, the "thermal blooming" effect brought by lasers could not be solved, thus restricting the development of laser weapons. Although the development of laser weapons has not been terminated, Chinese researchers have overcome various difficulties and still made the progress of laser weapons research and development steadily moving. forward.

Due to the use of highly toxic DF (deuterium fluoride) gas and its extremely large volume, in addition to being used in early strategic laser weapons, the world Countries have stopped their development and have developed solid-state lasers and fiber lasers. According to the recognized practice of laser experts at home and abroad, the laser output power must exceed 100 kilowatts to be considered weapon grade. According to reports, the solid-state laser unit module of General Atomics, which has been secretly developed by the United States, has a maximum continuous operating power of more than 50 kilowatts and a continuous operating time of more than 30 seconds. It uses a compact lithium-ion battery to provide power, which can be modularized and integrated to provide 50 kilowatts to 300 kilowatts. 4 types of laser output power. Due to its compact size, it is planned to be used in future Avengers drones, AC-130 armed gunboats, V-22 tilt rotor aircraft, future DDG51-class destroyers, light tactical vehicles, and 6th-generation fighters, and even strategic bombers. Military experts told reporters that the most important thing about laser weapons is how to generate high energy. For example, my country’s recently announced "Shenguang" III laser fusion device, which instantly releases energy equivalent to one quadrillion watts. Although it is not a laser weapon, it reflects the technical strength of my country's laser weapon in terms of energy from one aspect.

Military experts told reporters that in order to further realize the practical use of laser weapons, my country has carried out research on fiber lasers very early, according to public reports. , A subordinate unit of the Fourth Academy of Aerospace Science and Industry in Wuhan, Hubei has successfully developed a 10-kilowatt fiber laser and is developing a 20-kilowatt fiber laser. According to public reports, due to its small size, the Fourth Academy of Aerospace Science and Industry plans to install it on a motorized train. Each wagon is equipped with 60 sets of 10 to 20 kilowatt fiber laser aiming and launching devices. There are 5 sections in total. It is a high-energy laser defense weapon with a total irradiation power of 3000 to 6000 kilowatts. In addition, my country’s well-known nuclear weapons research institute, the Institute of Engineering Physics in Mianyang, is also actively researching fiber laser weapon systems.

In 2014, it publicly exhibited its 10-kilowatt laser interceptor system "Low Altitude Guard" for the non-military market, which can effectively intercept small aircraft within 2 km with a 100% success rate. The agency recently developed a 2-kilowatt single-mode fiber laser module that can operate for up to two hours without water cooling, according to public information. On this basis, a 40 kW 20-channel multi-fiber synthetic light source prototype developed for an institution was successfully developed in 2017, and a large-scale sub-beam synthetic fiber laser system of 100 to 200 kW is being developed.